REVIEW: Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake

My Rating: ✰✰✰✰✰

Review:

Oh, where to begin. Before Ivy Aberdeen, the last middle grade book I had read was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. But when I learned by FAVORITE author wrote a middle grade, and not any middle grade, but a queer middle grade? Yeah there was no way I wasn’t going to read that. IVY ABERDEEN’S LETTER TO THE WORLD Is about 12 year old Ivy Aberdeen, whose house gets wrecked by a tornado that storms through her town. While at the public shelter, her notebook went missing. In that notebook were drawings that Ivy drew depicting two girls holding hands, and while Ivy never completely understood why she drew them, she knew the girls weren’t simply two platonic friends. Over the next few weeks, her drawings appear in her locker, with notes saying she should talk to someone about those feelings.

I loved Ivy so much, and loved her journey of learning about herself. Not only did she have to process the loss of her childhood home and try to balance school with living in a cramped hotel room with her whole family, but she had to deal with many confusing thoughts and feelings that Ivy didn’t think she could talk to anyone about. However, I always love when characters have hobbies, so I really enjoyed the fact that Ivy had her drawings as an outlet when she didn’t know who to turn to.

June was also a great character, and reading her and Ivy’s budding friendship was incredibly heartwarming. Ivy and June both had their own separate things they were going through, and it really did feel like I was reading about a 12 year old going through all of these things, while also growing through them. Ivy had to deal with not just having her first crush, but the fact that her crush was not on a boy, which is what she knew as “normal.” I loved every page of this book, and am so glad it is officially out in the world.

I would recommend Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World to anyone who loves middle grade, and to anyone who loves LGBTQ+ fiction.

Until next time,

Jessi.